Last night on my way do drop my helper off, the guy I am currently working for whom I have known for about a decade who was the first to tell me about the truck for sale called me.

He went back to the older gentleman's house for a service call to find the truck still sitting in the drive where I left it. After speaking to the gentleman, my boss and he concluded that I should have gotten the truck. So the older gentleman singed it over to my boss right then and there.

It was record cold last night and the old girl wasn't having it. Charged battery and got it to fire up eventually only to notice a fuel leak at the sight glass.....yet again. Tried to tighten it and snapped it like a twig getting a good petroleum based eyewash out of the deal. Go get another filter, put it on and she won't take a charge good enough to spin consistently. Play with it for an hour and give up.

Brought battery to parts store. They said it was bad. Got a new high cold crank output battery and a can of starter fluid. Hopefully the ole girl is a morning person. Yes I'm still talking about the truck.

I will try and post pics of my hood/ hinge and cab supports on my 72 250 cs later if I get home before dark, and pics of the new girl.

And I was mistaken; the for sale sign said f100, but it is in actuality an 78 f150 ranger XLT.

Original gas line to from aux tank was still being used and it was inaccessable behind the main tank. I realized this on the side of the road. So I got some fuel line and ran it along the frame to the new aux tank.

Ignition seems to be arching too....not to comfortable. Anyway; what is this part? Thanks. Gotta get to work and pay off some of this debt.

She isn't leaking a single fluid that I can tell....you know; minus the gas, but that has been temporarily taken care of.

Water pump belt is loose too.

Is a serpentine system easily attainable from a later model? Would that increase power to wheels which is impressive all ready?

Whatever that little box is with the starter wire coming from it is broke; the stud protruding from the side leading to the starter is loose. This caused the starter to stay actively spinning after the ignition was off.

When I got it home I adjusted the power steering pump because it was loose and squeaking. Not thinking about that little box being jacked up; I turned it over and started it . It was making a good bit of rattling noise but I was sorta thinking it was the power steering pump.....not even thinking about the starter.
Then the engine just stopped.

Me being pretty ignorant and not too bright at times; I fired it back up....I died abruptly again. Upon the third start up attempt I heard the familiar sound of teeth not meshing correctly.

I got under it and it's all still sealed up so I couldn't see the flywheel or starter gear.

Thinking back, it could have been the starter gear not falling back yet stopping to spin at some point that stripped the teeth.

What are the chances of the flywheel still being in working shape?

Are the starter and that little box leading to the battery from the starter the same on a 72 and 78?

Replaced starter.....which was different from the one on my 390. Replaced damaged silinoid.

The wiring on this thing has seen better days for sure.

I can jump it off and it fired right up. I can take the cables off and she continues to run. Then anywhere between five and ten minutes of run time she shuts down without enough power to turn over again.

The alternator isn't charging the battery.

It there anyway I can wire the alternator up bypassing all the jacked up wiring?

Would it be better to get a wiring kit and redo the whole thing. I think it would be but time and money are the issue.

I just need the dang alternator to charge the battery.

If anyone knows some trick or simple rig to her me by for a few days then please tell me.

I'm almost to the point where I am going to be in a bind for real financially if I can't get one of these things rolling really soon.

You can pick one up at a parts place for less than $20. On my truck it's located in the engine compartment, on the back side of the radiator support by the horn on the right side of the truck.

You don't want to direct wire the alternator to the battery. Without proper voltage regulation in place, it will over-charge the battery and could cause other problems as well.

A friend of mine many years ago had the voltage regulator go out on a vehicle and it not only ruined the battery, it blew out every light bulb on the vehicle that came on after the regulator died, and I mean every bulb!

You can pick one up at a parts place for less than $20. On my truck it's located in the engine compartment, on the back side of the radiator support by the horn on the right side of the truck.

You don't want to direct wire the alternator to the battery. Without proper voltage regulation in place, it will over-charge the battery and could cause other problems as well.

A friend of mine many years ago had the voltage regulator go out on a vehicle and it not only ruined the battery, it blew out every light bulb on the vehicle that came on after the regulator died, and I mean every bulb!

There are wires just jumping into other wires. I'm lost and nearly overwhelmed trying to make sense of it. I looked at some diagrams but that didn't really help because I can't really read them.

Can I run a hot from battery to regulator to alternator without all the other stuff?

I finally got the main issue with the power bleed/ non functioning alternator worked out...I say me; it wasn't me. It was just hooked up backwards. As far as the three wires going to one.....well....it isn't causing any adverse issues as of yet that I can tell.

Now my next issue along with getting a wheel straightened out, is detonation. The carb isn't hooked up correctly. The egr is running to the side of the carb. It's all aftermarket and jacked up. It looks like someone tried to adjust the timing because the distributor is butted up against some piping.....turned as far as it will go.

Should I check timing first.....the guy that got the alternator squared away sys to look for an egr plate, and or reroute hose from the to side of carb, to the front of carb where there is now just a cap?